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Initial Intel 'Nehalem' CPUs as cheap as chips

$284 for a next-gen quad-core

Pssst! Want an Intel 'Nehalem' processor on the cheap? Well, just go and ask the chip giant for one. It's 2.66GHz 'Bloomfield' CPU has been price at just $284, it has been claimed.

That's the batch price, of course. To get it, you'll have to buy a 1000 CPUs at once - boxed Bloomfields will come in slightly higher than that.

As previously reported, the 2.66GHz Bloomfield - Intel's desktop Nehalem - will also be made available in 2.93GHz and 3.2GHz versions. The pricing, posted by Chinese-language site HKEPC, confirms the latter will be an Extreme-branded gaming PC part - it'll cost $999. The mid-range Bloomfield will cost $562.

All Nehalem CPUs will require new motherboards, thanks to their inclusion of an on-board memory controller capable of connecting to DDR 3 memory. They also use Intel's new QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) bus and fit into 1336-pin sockets.

Currently, the only Nehalem-friendly desktop chipset known to be in the works is the X58, based on the 'Tylersburg' chipset.